The name Darwage is from the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name was given to a person who was a the Old English personal name Aldrich, meaning old ruler, and refers to "a son of Aldrich." [1]CITATION[CLOSE]Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)

Darwage Early Origins

The surname Darwage was first found in the counties of Sussex, Suffolk, and Surrey, where the Darwage family held a family seat from very early times. The family had the Saxon spellings of Alderich, Ealdric, or possibly Aelfric before the Conquest. Aldridge is a town in Staffordshire (now the West Midlands) that dates back to the Domesday Book where it was listed as Alrewic and literally means "dwelling or farm among alders" having derived from the Old English word alor + wic. [2]CITATION[CLOSE]Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4) The parish was originally in the union of Walsall, in the hundred of Offlow, comprised 7,752 acres and was anciently held by Robert, a tenant of William fitzAnsculf and was worth 15 shillings. [3]CITATION[CLOSE]Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)

Darwage Spelling Variations

Darwage Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Darwage family name include Aldridge, Aldrich, Alderich, Alderidge, Eldrich, Elderidge, Elderich and many more.

Darwage Early History

Darwage Early History

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Darwage research. Another 67 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1647 and 1710 are included under the topic Early Darwage History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Darwage Early Notables (pre 1700)

Darwage Early Notables (pre 1700)

Another 24 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Darwage Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Darwage In Ireland

Darwage In Ireland

Some of the Darwage family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt. Another 71 words (5 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

The Great Migration

The Great Migration

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Investigation of the origins of family names on the North American continent has revealed that early immigrants bearing the name Darwage or a variant listed above: George Aldrich who settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1639; Henry Aldrich, who came to Dedham in 1645; George Aldrich, who arrived in Swansea in 1659.

Skordas, Guest. Ed. The Early Settlers of Maryland an Index to Names or Immigrants Complied from Records of Land Patents 1633-1680 in the Hall of Records Annapolis, Maryland. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1968. Print.

Bowman, George Ernest. The Mayflower Reader A Selection of Articales from The Mayflower Descendent. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing. Print.

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The Darwage Family Crest was acquired from the Houseofnames.com archives. The Darwage Family Crest was drawn according to heraldic standards based on published blazons. We generally include the oldest published family crest once associated with each surname.